The Poor Man's London Fog (aka theEarl Grey Tea Latte)

In my last post, I noted how the Starbucks card allows you to get free milk and syrups with any drinks. Now, an Earl Grey Tea latte (aka a London Fog) consists of the following:

• Earl Grey Tea (duh)
• Vanilla steamed milk
• A feel-good dollop of foam

What I used to do (until Starbucks wised up to me) was go to the local Starbucks, and order an Earl Grey Tea. It’s around $2.50 for a venti (large). I then tell them that I only want to fill it halfway with hot water, and in the rest of the cup, I want to add vanilla steamed milk. So, the cashier rings up:

• Earl Grey Tea (venti)
• Add Milk (this is how it shows on the Starbucks system)
• Add Vanilla

Simple, right? An Earl Grey Tea latte usually costs around $5.00, but I only ended up paying $2.50 for it. Eventually, some staffers realized what I was doing and said, “No, that’s an Earl Grey Tea latte you want”. At that point, you have two choices: acquiesce, or stand your ground (like yours truly) and say that you are using your Starbucks Registered Card so that you don’t have to pay for modifying your Earl Grey Tea with steamed milk and some vanilla syrup.

It still works in some stores. You should know that I've been told by current employees that there is no block on ordering a drink this way in the Starbucks system. I have called Starbucks Customer Support, and they confirmed that it is quite all right for me to order my drink in this manner, as free drink modifiers (like steamed milk and vanilla syrup) are part of the benefits for Registered Card holders.

Again, it may not be worth it to you to make a little bit of a scene inside the shop, especially if it’s a busy morning or you’re easily embarrassed. A better solution is to simply buy a box of the Earl Grey tea from Starbucks (or any stores that carries the Tazo® brand), plop down a teabag into your mug, head to the local Starbucks, and ask for some hot water in your mug and a short vanilla steamed milk. Pay for the vanilla steamed milk with your Registered Card, and you will get the vanilla syrup free. In some rare cases, I only ended up paying $0.50 for the milk, since they rang it through as “Add Milk” instead of a “Short Steamed Milk”. Even so, with your Personal Cup discount and your Registered Card, you’ll end up paying around $2.20 or so for your Earl Grey Tea latte.